The current inflationary outbreak is a novelty for those born during the 1989 Revolution, which were too low to raise awareness of price increases in 1993-2000, when the inflation rate had 3 digits (in 1993, it had been over 256%). But for Baby Boomers, inflation now is just a moment of vu. See in the text what measures then people were taking to protect themselves from inflation.
According to INS, in January the increase of prices was almost 8% and will not stop here, exceeding even the level of 2008, the year of the previous economic crisis.
The first thing the father did was to descend the temperature of the thermostat
Blaise Jones remembers how her mother told her that the first thing she did in those times was to descend the temperature of the thermostat at the apartment power plant, writes Wall-Street Journal. “This was the first decision to reduce the expenses: from 23 degrees I went down to 19 degrees in the house.” “I swear sometimes I could see my breath when I woke up,” says Dr. Jones, now 59 -year -old, a pediatrician specialized in Neuroradiology in Cincinnati.
With the rapid increase in energy costs, Dr. Jones resumed his father's example today, reducing the heat in the house to 18 degrees. “Also, when I was on the slope, I remember that my dad left the car out of speed to save gas consumption.”
The accelerated increase in the prices and reactions of his parents left a strong imprint on Dr. Jones. He and his wife prefer to live in a little to be able to save.
Financial stress related to a prolonged period of inflation has long -term effects on how we spend our money
I live in a smaller house than they can afford, they prefer to save for black days instead of spending their money on a new car or on jewelry and paying their rates regularly every month.
“I got a pathological dislike of debt,” says Dr. Jones.
The financial stress related to an prolonged period of inflation, has long -term effects on how we spend our money, explains Dan Egan, specialist in behavioral finance and investments at Betterment LLC. The younger you are, the deeper the effects are, he says.
In the early 1980s, Linda Gadkowski was a teacher and mother of three little girls in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The high prices for children's articles and food made her become more economical, because her family did not have enough money to depreciate the impact of increasing prices.
Instead of taking their girls to a movie or ordering a pizza dinner, Linda taught them to be bought as little
Instead of going to a movie or to order a pizza dinner (what the girls would have liked), Linda learned to be bought by little. He took them strawberries and taught them how to preserve berries, but also other fruits and vegetables.
It made them to the doll girls from what materials they had in the house, avoiding buying them from the store, where they had become very expensive. Also, Mrs. Gadkowski took her children to local stores with used products not just to buy clothes to wear dolls, but to be suitable for them.
Hedda Nadler sold his apartment in 1983, when maintenance fees had grown suddenly, and then bought a house in Tarrytown, NY. Shortly after the purchase, the interest on the mortgage loan jumped to 13.5% from about 12.75%. “The prospect of paying such interest was very” painful “, says Mrs. Nadler, now 70 years old.
She negotiated with the credit broker who finally left her unchanged interest, after she explained that she was a single mother who carefully counted every penny in her pocket.
“The memories of that period have prepared me for what we live today …”
The beginning of the 1980s taught Dawn Kelly to postpone any expense. Mrs. Kelly, a student at Howard University at that time, said that her family's money made up of 5 people were very carefully thought out.
“I drove the same car for almost a decade,” she said. Mrs. Kelly now holds the Nourish Spot restaurant in Jamaica, Queens and says that the memories of that period have prepared it for the present.
She postponed the repairs she had scheduled for her home, as the prices of the building materials have climbed a lot. Although he has finished with the car credit for about two years, he continues to drive a BMW from 2014.
“Take care of your goods and maintain them,” says Mrs. Kelly, 59, younger relatives who face their first inflationary experience.
Ron Murphy was 30 years old in the 1980s. The founder of the Shamrock Productions exhibition company ran his Oldsmobile until he made with him 450,000 miles (over 720,000 km), and the engine is “exploded”. They didn't take their vacation because they would have been too expensive for them.
Chris Navratil's daughter, now 52, says that her father's lessons are very useful now, when she has to cope with energy costs. She cooks more at home and buys foods from the category of private brands from the store. Also, any holiday is automatically postponed until better times.
